With Enemies Like This
by sour gummies
Summary: Kid Flash has a 'friendly' run-in with a group of old foes from his personal rogues gallery, the H.I.V.E. Five. The Team follows him, and hijinks - hi, Jinx! - ensue. Anon fic meme fill, NOT a Teen Titans crossover. ON HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

a/n: Here's my second attempt at Young Justice fic! Be excited. I was actually really surprised how well my first one-shot was received, so hopefully people will enjoy this story as well.

This fic is in-progress, and is being written for a meme prompt, something along the lines of, "What if Kid Flash had fought the H.I.V.E. Five numerous times before joining the Team, and still ran off sometimes to go fight them, confusing the heck out of his teammates. The Team follows KF to one of their confrontations, hilarity ensues. Artemis and Jinx argue about Wally even though neither will admit to liking him."

Note that this is **not** a Teen Titans crossover; the H.I.V.E. Five lineup written here is the same six particular individuals as in TT, but all have been completely rewritten to fit into the darker, more serious tone of the Young Justice universe. I incorporated bits of canon to explain certain character appearances/behavior and the central plotline (for example, this fic assumes that Mammoth broke out of prison after "Terrors" to regroup with his old teammates, etc.). I did try to keep all the characters at least recognizable, though.

As always, constructive criticism is craved and appreciated. The H.I.V.E. kids all have major personality differences (and physical differences!) from their Teen Titans counterparts, which is intentional, because every character who has appeared in both shows to date is _significantly_ different in each incarnation. However, if I'm getting Wally (or anyone else from the Team) wrong, pleaseplease_please_ let me know and all that so I can fix it.

* * *

><p><em>"Finally,"<em> Jinx crowed, holding up the pendant with a triumphant gleam in her catlike eyes. The warehouse was dark, but the deep purple gemstone sparkled in her hands, eerily reflecting the nonexistent light. "Feels like I've been waiting forever to get my hands on this."

"I'll say," muttered See-More to her right, grinning crookedly. He held up his own prize, a set of tarnished gold bangles inlaid with glittering sapphires. "It's good to be out actually _doing _something again. What do you think? Do these bring out my eyes?"

Sorting through a few scattered crates ahead of them, Gizmo paused, staring dead ahead into nothing. His hands froze midair, inches away from a delicate-looking piece of machinery he'd been inspecting. "You only have one eye, See-More," the ten-year-old said tonelessly.

See-More rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, forgetting for a moment that he was wearing a helmet. "…That was kinda the joke, Giz."

"Oh."

On the other side of the warehouse, Billy Numerous argued with one of his five or so clones milling about the area, who were serving as lookouts or simply shuffling about, bored.

"No, we take the SILVER ones," one Billy snarled, shoving a heavy silver vase forcefully at another clone's chest. "They're more valuable!"

"I don't think so," his duplicate argued in kind. He held up several heavy sheets of flattened copper for the other to see. "You can do anythin' with copper! Makes wires, machinery—heck, Gizmo over there prolly has a thousand uses for this stuff, and we AIN'T gonna get another chance to come back here. Take it while we can!"

"How 'bout this," said a third clone impatiently, approaching the fighting pair and putting a red-gloved hand on each of their shoulders. "Why don't we split up a bit more and jus' take ALL of it?"

Grinning savagely, the others nodded, splitting off into four additional clones, who immediately began to pick up heaps of loot at random, whooping in triumph whenever they found something particularly valuable.

Above them all, a cloaked, slight figure with blood-red eyes hovered in the rafters, carefully watching the proceedings below while keeping an eye out for potential danger. Kyd Wykkyd made no attempt to hinder nor help the plundering efforts of his teammates, though he cocked his head to the side at Billy's antics, genuinely mystified.

Off in her own world below, Jinx sighed dreamily, turning the violet pendant over in her hands. "Shame we've got to pawn all this stuff," she told See-More idly, her lavender eyes half-lidded. "A girl could get used to being surrounded by such finery…"

Mammoth, passing by with a heaping armful of heavy machinery, grunted. "You kids wanna eat, don't you?" he growled, pausing to glare at her.

Jinx countered his glare with a wide, unsettling smile. She didn't look the least bit deterred by the fact that Mammoth was easily five times her size. "Of course, of course!" she said sweetly. "And let me say again that we're all _very_ grateful that you came back to help us, Mammoth. How was Belle Reve, by the way?" Her smile suddenly dropped, replaced by a surprisingly cold stare. "Things have changed around here, while you were off running around with those Kobra freaks. Don't you forget that **I'm **the leader of this team – and I don't appreciate being treated like a child."

Mammoth grunted again and kept walking, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward, like he had a secret to hide.

See-More, who had watched this exchange with only his usual twisted grin for commentary, shook his head. "You know, girl, far as I'm concerned, you can keep whatever you want from tonight," he said. "The important thing is, we're out making hits again!" He pounded an enthusiastic fist into his free hand; his lone eye was bright with excitement within his helmet. "Time to show the world what we're really made of. The H.I.V.E. Five is alive! And this time, there's no arrogant little _sidekicks _around to stand in our way..."

"_Aww_," came a horribly familiar voice from the warehouse's entrance. "Didn't you guys miss me?"

The six of them whirled about in unison, already knowing who they'd see, even if they had trouble believing it. They knew that voice. There was no mistaking it, not after so many years.

Sure enough, it was none other than Kid Flash who leaned nonchalantly against the open door of the warehouse, smugly twirling the keys to their getaway truck around one finger. His grin was as conceited as it had always been, eyes alight with mischief and anticipatory excitement.

"…Because I know I sure missed all of YOU," he continued, with that same infuriating cheerfulness as before –

– and then, suddenly, they were all charging him at once.

Jinx was the most nimble of the group, but Mammoth was closer – he threw his stolen goods to the ground with a grunt of rage and flew toward Kid Flash without any hesitation whatsoever.

Of course, given that Kid Flash was capable of moving faster than the eye could blink, a little hesitation might not have been a bad idea after all.

"I don't think the Kobra venom-look suits you too well," the speedster said conversationally, still leaning casually against the garage doorframe as Mammoth charged forward. "It took me waaaaaay too long to figure out it was actually _you_ beneath those big steroid-y muscles. Talk about a makeover! And you didn't even say hello to me in Santa Prisca. How rude is that?"

Mammoth gave no response except a loader grunt of fury. Rolling his eyes, Kid Flash waited until the last possible moment before zipping out of the line of fire, leaving the behemoth to crash noisily into the nearby wall as his fist met nothing but air.

"You never were much of a talker," Kid Flash said lightly. Catching a sudden movement in the corner of his eye, he quickly turned around with a smile. "No, don't worry, I didn't forget about the rest of y—"

Something exploded about a foot away from his head. With a noise of surprise, Kid Flash doubled back, looking around wildly to see Gizmo bearing down on him in a jet-pack. The young boy wore bulky metal gauntlets on both arms that stretched from his wrists to his elbows, and from these, another set of small missiles emerged, ready to fire.

"This time I'm going to kill you," Gizmo said monotonously, expression unreadable behind his goggles. He deployed the explosives without another word.

Kid Flash dodged the small missiles easily, zooming left to right, already grinning again. "The jet pack's new," he said appreciatively, watching as Gizmo hovered to and fro in the air, trying hard to catch up. "Nice work. Think you could lend me the design specs?"

Gizmo set off another round of missiles. "No, I won't do that, because I hate you," the boy said tonelessly, adjusting something on one of his gauntlets. He didn't seem terribly focused on the battle at hand, although to his credit the explosions getting nearer and nearer to their target. "You won't be able to dodge forever. These bombs were designed to predict the course of a fast-moving target. And then you'll be dead."

"Yeah, yeah," Kid Flash muttered, wincing as another missile went off dangerously close to his head. He took a moment to massage his ringing ears. "Good to see you too and all that."

"It's not good to see you. It's never good to see you," Gizmo said matter-of-factly, still tinkering with his gauntlets without looking at him.

"Kid, you really have got no sense of hu—"

At that moment, a large blast of laser fire rammed into Kid Flash's side, sending him tumbling to the ground with a yelp of pain. As he struggled to get re-oriented, he looked up to see See-More grinning wickedly down at him, lone eye gleaming red within his helmet.

"Hey there," the young villain said cheerfully. "Ready to die?"

Knowing what was coming next, Kid Flash ducked to the side just in time to avoid another laser blast. He scrambled to his feet as quickly as he could and started backing away, not taking his eyes off See-More.

"Dude! Give a guy a little warning," the speedster joked, although he moved a bit more warily than before. He knew from experience that the wiry teen before him had plenty of tricks up his sleeve. "You're going to hurt someone like that."

It was hard to tell with half his face obscured by a bulky helmet, but See-More actually looked pleased at the compliment.

"Really? We've been practicing," the teen said, grinning. It wasn't a nice smile. "Knew you had to show back up sometime. Now, hold still for a second – we're all _really _tired of you messing with us, you see."

He fired another laser from his helmet. Gizmo pitched in too, wordlessly setting off four new missiles from his arm gauntlets. Kid Flash narrowly avoided them all, turning heel and dashing to the opposite end of the warehouse to try and regroup –

– only to collide halfway there with a tall, red, very human-shaped obstacle standing in the way. Kid Flash and the other boy both went sprawling to the ground, shouting, and it was only when about six other identical figures came up to surround them that Kid Flash recognized his new assailant as Billy Numerous. Billy and his duplicates could have passed for twins, or quintuplets, or however many of them existed at a given moment – they were all indistinguishable, lanky twenty-year-olds with unkempt black hair, and dressed in red bodysuits that completely covered them from the neck down.

"Bet you regret that," Kid Flash said conversationally, glancing at the clone beside him on the ground. "Good to see you, by the way. Earn your GED yet? Oh, wait a sec, I forget you aren't exactly the _bright_ one…"

Another one of the clones moved to kick him, but Kid Flash quickly rolled over to avoid the attack, then jumped to his feet. The duplicate on the ground spat and clumsily stood as well, hands bleeding from painful-looking scrapes courtesy of his liaison with the floor. Another clone snickered.

The first one glared at his double. "Shut up, you dumb piece've – " Billy snarled, but then stopped, shaking his head as if to clear it. "Whatever. Let's jus' take care of this guy!"

Kid Flash glanced about the circle of clones, noting that Mammoth was approaching fast behind them, his bulky frame still covered in plaster from the wall. "Does it still count as talking to yourself if there's more than one of you?" the speedster asked brightly, secretly looking for an opening.

The clones jumped him. Kid Flash zipped around the first three without any trouble, while keeping an eye on Mammoth, but a fourth clone managed to trip him. He hit the ground hard, wheezing as two more clones began kicking him in the chest.

"How d'you like _them_ apples?" one Billy gloated, pulling back his leg for another kick.

Exhaling quickly, Kid Flash braced himself against the ground for a second and then sprang back up at a run, silently thanking his luck for the body protectors that lined his suit. Billy Numerous wasn't holding back; without the extra insulation, Kid Flash probably would have ended up with a broken rib.

But he wasn't out of the woods yet. Mere seconds after Kid Flash had gotten clear of Billy and his duplicates, Mammoth arrived, tossing the clones aside indiscriminately to try and reach him.

"C'mere!" the behemoth growled.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Kid Flash said, taking off again at a run and thinking fast. Who should he deal with first? Gizmo and See-More were the best-equipped to check his movements, so it might be better to start with –

That train of thought was cut off abruptly as the speedster suddenly tripped over his own feet without warning, tumbling to the ground for what felt like the hundredth time that night.

"Man, what rotten luck!" he muttered angrily, getting quickly back to his feet.

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

Kid Flash froze, then jerked his head to the left. He was too late to avoid the first blow—a petite fist clocked him dead-on the left side of his head, hard enough to bruise, and Kid Flash staggered backward, eyes widening in recognition even as he recovered from the hit.

"...Jinx?" he asked dumbly.

She smiled wide. "Hi."

Then she ran in for another attack.

Kid Flash jumped back a foot or so, reorienting himself, then launched head-on into the fight. Settling into a slow pace (for him, at least), he dodged Jinx's patterned strikes with relative ease, throwing a handful of token punches her way to keep up appearances but really just trying to get a better look at her.

She was as pretty as he remembered. Bronzed skin, pink dreadlocks, thin (deceptively thin) limbs – he thought she might have gotten a few new facial piercings since he'd last seen her. She still seemed to be adorned in jewelry from head to foot, with gold and copper bands spiraling, mismatched, all up and down her bare arms.

Kid Flash realized with a jolt that he'd finally grown tall enough for them to be the same height.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Jinx said pleasantly, swiping down with one arm and missing his neck by inches. "Thought you'd finally given up on us."

Kid Flash smiled, forcibly reminding himself of the very predatory gleam in her bright lavender eyes. "Give up on you? Babe, I'd never."

Jinx grinned wider, darting to the side and attempting to kick out at him. He dodged and tried to go in for a punch, but she elegantly flipped out of his range with a polished handspring, giving him a sidelong glance that made him feel thirteen again.

"Well, I guess that's good," Jinx said, lifting both arms. A flash of purple fire materialized in the air above her. "Might as well get you out of the way before we move on to the big leagues."

She lowered her arms sharply and the fire raced straight at him. Kid Flash ran and the spell followed him, all the way across the warehouse floor and even up one of the walls before dissipating harmlessly into the air. He ran back down, stopping in front of Jinx with his most charming smile.

"Come on, babe, don't be like that," he teased.

Jinx didn't respond, concentrating. She braced herself, spreading her feet apart, then lifted her arms again, eyes glowing. Various crates and items began rising into the air around them, swirling harmlessly for a moment before launching violently at Kid Flash. Jinx stood in the center of the storm, expression intensely focused. Her dreadlocks whipped about her face.

"It's been fun. Now please die," she said, meaning it.

Zigzagging across the floor to avoid the junk flying his way, Kid Flash reluctantly decided it was time to stop playing around. He narrowed his eyes and pulled his goggles down over his face, running clear of a few heavy-looking books and an airborne French horn so that he could ram directly into Jinx's side. She went flying, with a loud cry of shock, and the objects in the air scattered in all directions, crashing wherever they landed.

"Remember, I gave you plenty of chances," he warned, watching as she rubbed her head in pain.

"Yeah, you're a real saint," Jinx muttered, getting back to her feet with some difficulty. She stubbornly assumed a defensive stance, but Kid Flash could tell from that she was on the verge of passing out.

The attack hadn't gone unnoticed by the others, though. "Hey!" cried See-More, running over. He hard blinked for a long moment, shifting the function of his helmet visor from infrared vision – tracking mode – back to laser fire. His eye glowed a threatening red. "Back off!"

Kid Flash ran at him. Before See-More knew what was happening, the speedster had barreled directly into him, forcefully, sending him skidding wildly across the warehouse floor. See-More crashed into the nearest wall and hit his head with a sickening _crack_, falling bonelessly to the ground. He struggled a moment, trying to get to his hands and knees, but ultimately collapsed.

But the others were advancing, too, and they all looked to be out for Kid Flash's blood. Gizmo flew down at him, missiles at the ready, while Mammoth rushed in from the opposite direction, fist drawn back, with a good dozen or so Billy clones trailing at his heels. The three of them attacked as one, working as a team for a change: they coordinated their strikes like a military unit might, trying hard to take Kid Flash out for good this time. Jinx hovered back, swaying as she clutched at her head, but she resolutely barked out orders to her teammates, directing their attack patterns. Every once in a while she fired a bad luck hex or two in Kid Flash's direction to trip him up.

Yet despite their best efforts – and they'd certainly gotten better during the past five months, Kid Flash would give them that – the speedster ran circles around them anyway, grinning cockily as the young supervillains _just _missed hitting him again and again, screaming in frustration and rage while he zoomed easily out of reach. It had been a long time since he'd fought the H.I.V.E. Five (and he'd had plenty of important things to do in that time, obviously) but it was good to know that some things hadn't changed.

_Kid Flash!_ came a worried female voice, echoing suddenly in his mind. _Kid Flash, do you read? Can you hear me?_

…But then, of course, _other_ things had changed enormously.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hey, M'gann,_ Kid Flash mentally joked. _Not that I don't love talking to you, but do you mind? I'm kind of in the middle of something._

Nearby, Mammoth grunted and lashed out with a giant fist. Kid Flash ducked around it, running circles around the larger metahuman quickly enough to kick up a cloud of dust from the dirty warehouse floor. It temporarily blinded both Mammoth and the various Billy clones surrounding them.

Kid Flash could still see fine through his goggles. He suspected that Gizmo could do the same.

_Just what are you doing?_ Artemis demanded through the mind-link. _One minute you were training with the rest of us, and the next, you'd taken off to go take care of some _warehouse_ robbery, two hundred miles away!_

Kid Flash ran at the nearest Billy Numerous clone at top speed, knocking it into two others. The clones all fell on one another in a clumsy heap, cursing loudly. _Hey, in my defense, I told you guys not to follow me!_ Kid thought back defensively to his teammates.

He saw a flash of movement behind him and spun around. It was Gizmo again, zooming toward him in the air with his jet-pack. The boy seemed to have finally run out of missiles, but Kid Flash noticed that a few new chambers had opened up in his metal arm gauntlets, revealing a handful of small machines that looked suspiciously like tasers. The boy's arms crackled visibly with raw electricity.

"Well, that's new," Kid Flash muttered.

Gizmo came at him without a word.

Kid Flash thought quickly. He knew if he made contact with the gauntlets at all, he'd find himself electrocuted – but it wasn't like Gizmo was any more difficult to dodge than the others. They'd all clearly had extensive combat training, but that didn't make them _fast._

Still dodging blows from all sides, Kid continued to chat with the rest of the Team through the telepathic link, cheerfully asking, _So did you guys seriously follow me all the way here from Happy Harbor?_

_Duh! Of course we did,_ snapped Robin. _We're in the Bio-Ship. I mean, come on, you took one look at the holo-screen and just – took off! What were we supposed to think?_

_Robin is right,_ Aqualad said in a tone that was somehow both warning and polite. _Your behavior was suspicious, including telling us not to follow. We could not rule out the possibility that you were being blackmailed or were otherwise in danger._

Kid Flash rolled his eyes behind his goggles, flashing a grin at another Billy Numerous clone before punching him hard in the stomach.

_Way to overreact, you guys!_ he said. _It's nothing like that. I just recognized this specific group of criminals by their crime patterns, so I decided to go out and stop them before they could hit any more targets. It's nothing to worry about._

A flash of movement drew his attention back to the warehouse. Jinx, eyes glowing, waved her hand toward him from a safe perch several dozen yards away, still holding her head in her free hand. There was no fire or burst of light, but a second later Kid Flash found himself nearly tripping again. He had to improvise an impromptu half-flip off Mammoth's wide back in order to land on his feet again.

_We kind of have a history together,_ Kid Flash added.

He didn't hear anything through the telepathic link for a while after that, which probably meant that the Team was either distracted with landing inconspicuously, or just really annoyed at him.

Kid Flash didn't mind either way. He had his hands full with the baddies – Gizmo nearly grazed him with his sparking arm gauntlets on the next strike, sending Kid Flash skidding back to avoid him. After that, one last hex from Jinx sent the speedster careening into an overturned crate nearby. Muttering curses, Kid Flash clambered free of the random piles of junk and knickknacks: but then he halted, his eyes catching on something nearby that could potentially be _very _useful.

"_Hello, _Wally!" he said loudly, unable to hold back a grin. He lightly slapped his forehead with one hand and reached out to grab a handful of the wiring cables with the other. "This ought to slow them down..."

When the Team finally snuck in, scarcely a ninety seconds later, it was only to find that half the bad guys had already been taken out of commission.

The warehouse certainly looked like a recent battle zone. The five teenagers glanced around at the upturned crates and scattered junk littering the ground, wary and ready for anything. Despite Kid Flash's words, they all knew better than to let their guard down in the presence of unfamiliar enemies. At Aqualad's command, the members of the Team fanned out, covertly investigating different sectors of the warehouse.

As for what they found…

A young-looking boy sat calmly near the center of the floor, his gauntlet-clad arms bound tightly with cables and crossed precariously close to his bare neck. He was clearly conscious, but still made no attempt to escape – in fact, he almost looked bored.

Next to him, a burly, familiar-looking hulk of a teenager lay unconscious with his beefy wrists tied securely to his ankles. The enormous muscles in Mammoth's extremities occasionally twitched, as though he'd been caught in the crossfire of some kind of electric attack. Perhaps even one instigated by a fellow teammate.

_Hey, that's..._ Superboy began, eyes widening.

_Mammoth_, Aqualad confirmed darkly. _Who, if I recall correctly, should still be serving a lengthy prison term in Belle Reve Penitentiary._

Completing the pile were three identical, lanky black-haired youths in red bodysuits, tied together at the wrists and sprawled inelegantly in a heap by their fallen teammates. The clones drooled all over one another in sleep, slumped harmlessly on the warehouse floor.

_Nice going, KF,_ Robin said appreciatively, doing a quick survey of the nearby battleground to guess at how the fight had gone. He seemed impressed enough to temporarily hedge his complaints. _Looks like you've really got these guys on the ropes!_

_Less puns, more action,_ Artemis snapped, stringing her bow. She began to jog out toward the center of the warehouse, where a tell-tale yellow blur informed them that the fight wasn't over yet. _If you guys are done making sure the coast is clear, I'll go help out Kid Ego._

Kid Ego, for his part, wasn't in any particular hurry for backup. "Hey, babe," he told Jinx with a winning smile, walking toward her. She stood alone and defiant, clutching a jeweled pendant in one hand, her back pressed to a stack of crates. "Are you going come quietly this time? I can ask the cops to go easy on you."

It clearly took some effort on her part, but Jinx smiled at him as he got close. Her legs trembled from the strain of keeping her balance, and a bead of sweat ran down her face as he watched. But none of that made her any less gorgeous.

"Come on, hero boy," she breathed with a laugh, leering up at him. They were the same height, but she was slipping down unsteadily against the crates, forced more than once to brace herself against them to keep from collapsing. Her lavender eyes were narrowed, pupils constricted to almost nothing, but her gaze was strangely unfocused. Possibly concussed, Kid Flashed mused to himself.

Yet even weakened, Jinx was proud. "Since when do I ever come _quietly?_" she purred.

"It's really a shame, you know," Kid Flash said. He was still flirting, but now his tone was a bit more honest, genuine. "You're really talented. You'd have been great as a hero. "

Jinx laughed at that, really laughed, and then Wally had to catch her: she suddenly staggered off-balance and fell against him, groaning in pain.

She must have been more hurt than he realized. Kid Flash felt a sudden stab of guilt at the realization, but he forced himself to push it aside. After all, Jinx was a criminal. And it wasn't like he'd _wanted_ to attack her.

"You know you're better than raiding rich people's storage units with these losers," he told her reproachfully, shifting his stance to accommodate her weight.

"You always say that," Jinx muttered dazedly into his neck.

Wally smiled, blushing despite himself – and for a moment, he could feel her smiling back.

Then: "What an _idiot._"

He probably should have expected the groin attack.

"What an _idiot!_" Artemis snarled, rushing in and loosing an arrow in Jinx's direction. Suddenly reanimated, Jinx grinned widely and ducked down, leaping into a series of quick handsprings that put her out of range of the projectile well before it exploded.

Gritting her teeth, Artemis strung another arrow, glancing angrily down at at Kid Flash beside her. He was currently doubled over on the floor and wheezing hard to cope with the crippling pain of where Jinx's boot had landed.

"What were you thinking?" Artemis snapped at him, loosing a second arrow to no avail. Jinx easily danced around it with a grin, leaping like an acrobat. "You _had _that girl, Kid! How could you let her get away with such a stupid trick?"

"Sucker for a pretty face," the speedster gasped, shakily regaining his feet.

Nearby, Aqualad and Robin stood guard over the fallen Gizmo, Mammoth, and Billy Numerous. _These three appear to pose no further danger, _Aqualad said calmly through the telepathic link.

_There's more,_ Miss Martian called to them in warning, flying above and surveying the warehouse from an aerial perspective. _I don't know where it's coming from yet, but I definitely sense another presence here besides those four on the ground!_

_Huh?_ Kid Flash asked, glancing around the warehouse. Beside him, Artemis darted loaded another arrow into her compound bow and sprinted off in Jinx's direction. Kid nearly took a step after her, considering, but then he reluctantly backed off again, keeping his focus on the mental link.

_No way! I definitely left Jinx for last, since she and I – uh, never mind._ Deciding to change the subject, Wally peeled back his goggles and gave the warehouse another sweeping glance. He didn't notice any changes from before. _...But I already took out Gizmo, and Mammoth, and Numerous – and that kid with the eye-thing too, See-More. Where the heck did HE go, anyway? I _know_ I knocked him out earlier._

_Uh, KF?_ Robin asked. He sounded like he was trying to remember something. _These guys are the criminals you told me about before, right? That group of kid thieves you used to fight all the time back in Central City?_

_Yeah, the H.I.V.E. Five. _Kid Flash said, eyes narrowing as he zipped around the warehouse, looking for See-More. _So?_

Without waiting for an answer, he ground to a halt in the middle of the floor and cupped both hands around his mouth. "Hey, EYEBALL HEAD!" Kid called out mockingly, turning around as he yelled. "Where'd you head off to? You scared? I'd have thought you and your pals would be used to juvie by now!"

_Hold up a sec! _Robin pressed. _There was something weird about the these guys that you mentioned before._ _They're called _t__he 'H.I.V.E. Five,' but d___idn't you say there were actually _six_ of them? _

Kid Flash's eyes suddenly widened, remembering. "Oh, _yeah, _you're ri–"

At that moment, a steel-plated combat boot materialized out of thin air to kick him squarely in the jaw.

"_OW!_" Kid Flash shouted loudly, reeling backward. Tasting blood, he brought a hand up to his smarting jawline, running his tongue along his lower row of teeth to make sure he hadn't chipped any.

"Augh!" he screamed angrily, looking around wildly for the culprit. "You're gonna _pay _for that!"

He caught a fleeting, liquid-like movement out of the corner of one eye and spun around frantically so as not to lose it. As Kid Flash watched, heart racing, his attacker landed gracefully on the floor several yards ahead of him, feet hitting the floor with no noise whatsoever. The slight, familiar figure then sank warily into a crouch, teeth bared. From beneath his unkempt mess of long, uneven black hair, which obscured much of his face in shadow, a pair of angry blood-red eyes shone clearly through the darkness. A black, ragged cloak draped over most of the boy's rail-thin frame, hiding him almost entirely from view in the lightless warehouse.

Kyd Wykkyd.

"I _–_ oh, right. You're the last resort guy," Kid Flash bit out accusingly, still rubbing his sore mouth. "Just how do I always forget about you?"

The younger teen merely hissed soundlessly in response, slowly backing away.

_Who is that guy?_ Superboy demanded over the mind-link. _I can hardly see him, even in infrared vision.  
><em>

_I...I can't read his mind, _Miss Martian said, her telepathic voice sounding rather strained. _At least, I don't _think_ I can. I've never felt anything like this before..._

_Someone we need to be worried about?_ Artemis asked sharply.

Kid Flash looked calculatingly over at Kyd Wykkyd, trying to gauge his mental state. _Well, the short answer is, yes and no,_ he told the others distractedly.

Robin, predictably, wasted no time getting to the point. _What's that supposed to mean? _he asked.

Before Wally could answer, Kyd Wykkyd suddenly sprang to life. The young teen ran forward several feet, swinging one arm back to throw something in his right hand: Kid Flash noticed distractedly that the motion caused several small blood drops to splatter onto the floor behind him.

_But I haven't even hit him yet!_ Kid thought, darting to the side to avoid the object now hurtling past his head. _How can he be bleeding?_

He skidded to a halt, automatically turning his head to see what it was Kyd had thrown at him. He froze as the object on the ground registered, a jagged piece of insulated glass smeared with fresh and dried blood. It had come from See-More's helmet.

"Uh-oh," Kid Flash muttered, whipping about-face. The other boy was gone.

_The suspect vanished into thin air,_ Aqualad said through the mind-link, running out from hiding to join Kid Flash at his side. The leader already had his Water-Bearers drawn. _Be alert! _

_Kid _–_ we need to know what else he's capable of! _Robin said urgently._  
><em>

_Usually? Not a whole lot,_ Wally said grimly, nodding at each of his teammates in turn as they ran over to join him. Kaldur pointed each of them to a different corner of the warehouse and they split up at once, going to search. _Kyd Wykkyd's the lookout guy. He's not a big fighter. The kid usually just builds a nest somewhere and hides out till the action's done and over.  
><em>

_Could've fooled me,_ Conner snapped. _He sure looks ready to fight now!_

_Yeah, well, _that_ would be because I took out all his running buddies,_ Kid said matter-of-factly, gesturing toward the teen villains scattered unconscious about the warehouse. _I completely forgot he was here with them, or else I might have taken it a little easier on their sorry butts. _

_Why?_ M'gann asked._  
><em>

There was a slight pause before the next answer arrived_. Kyd's kind of messed in the_ _head_, Kid Flash finally said._ He doesn't really _get_ the difference between fighting to incapacitate, and fighting to kill. I think the only reason he's out here _now_ is because he's afraid I'm going to go back for his teammates and finish what I star__–___

A harsh scream tore through the warehouse, interrupting their conversation. _  
><em>

"MISS M!" Kid Flash shouted, echoing the similar cries of his teammates. Wasting no time, he raced blindly toward the source of the noise at top speed.

M'gann had been camouflaged in her Martian form, but that hadn't stopped her attacker: she'd strayed too close to where See-More was sprawled unconscious on the ground, trickling blood from a nasty cut on his head where his helmet had cracked.

Kyd Wykkyd hadn't hesitated. He'd sprung from seemingly out of nowhere in the middle of the air, tackling Miss Martian to the warehouse floor and wrapping armored hands around her throat before she could retaliate.

Caught in this position in another fight, M'gann could have easily fought back, could have overpowered her assailant even without her powers ___–___ but now, without warning, something chillingly black and terrifying reared up in the boy's thoughts, paralyzing her mind and body. Her psychic senses were frozen.

**why does It need another one for to help attack Them,** the boy said, in _her_ psychic voice, snarling noiselessly from above. **not It has won enough of Their blood without Your help? only why because likes always that They- that We -ending up ALL PUNISH for this?**

Miss Martian stiffened, eyes widening in horror with as his fingers dug harder into her neck. The boy's words were unquestionably _his _and not hers, but his lips remained motionless on his face, and the telepathic voice screaming now in her mind was completely identical to her own.

Something horrible sank its dark tendrils into her mind.

_I don't understand, _M'gann whispered telepathically, her words echoing through the minds of everyone in the warehouse, friend and foe alike. _I-I don't...katchhaa, n'da, n'da, n'da, n'daaaaa..._

Her words drifted off into broken, rambling Martian.

Kid Flash reached the them a second later. He slammed full-body into the smaller boy, to toss him away from Miss Martian by force._  
><em>

"You leave her alone!" he growled.

Kyd Wykkyd looked up at him, eyes glowing faintly.

Nearby, Miss Martian let out a pained sob, slipping into unconsciousness. Conner was at her side in an instant, looking terrified.

"M'gann?" he asked worriedly. "M'gann, can you hear me?"

"Whatever you've done to her, knock it off!" Wally snarled. Kyd glared at him, then glanced warily at the remaining Team members who had gathered around, weapons drawn. He began to back away, tensed for an attack.

**why always You come back for to hurt Them,** the boy hissed at Kid Flash, still using M'gann's telepathic voice. The effect was eerie and wrong. **alone sometimes the Lightning Man with You sometimes but always always You to attacking Us first!**

"It wasn't like that!" Kid Flash shouted. "They're _criminals!_ I was stopping them! Just LISTEN to me!"

Kyd didn't. With another sweep of his cloak, he was gone again ___–___ and Wally and his teammates could only pace the warehouse with bated breath, forming a protective ring around Miss Martian as they waited for the next blow to come...

* * *

><p>So yeah. This story is still on hiatus, but I figured I could at least repost the rest of what I'd originally written for the anon meme back when I started it. I also wrote off a bit to round off the end of this chapter, but it's pretty sloppy, so I may go back through and heavily edit it when I get some downtime.<p>

In addition, since you've all been so patient, here's some just-for-fun background/outline headcanon info I wrote up about Earth-16's H.I.V.E. Five, ages and ages ago ___–___

(…I don't think Kyd Wykkyd actually knows he's a supervillain…)

**Jinx:** 17. The leader. Pink dreadlocks, wears gold jewelry on her arms and neck that help her focus her powers, which are elementally based but have a definite component of luck. Wears a dark blue strapless top with a starburst pattern on it that cuts off at her midriff.

**Mammoth:** 19. See TV. Was 'inhumanly' strong even before the Kobra Venom injection, but not to Superman-esque levels like the Terror Twins. Very asocial and surprisingly subservient. Thrill-seeking; doesn't mind getting into danger. Snarky attitude that he largely keeps to himself. Has a twin sister named Shimmer.

**Gizmo:** 10-year-old boy with severe problems emoting and socializing. Mechanical genius. Was very attached to Mammoth in the past; felt betrayed when he left to join the Cult of the Kobra.

**See-More:** 16. Wiseacre, but very mission-oriented. Something of a narcissist. Borderline sociopath, but still moderately friendly.

**Kyd Wykkyd:** 14. Mute boy, rail-thin. Codependency issues, especially toward See-More. Stronger than he looks but still physically the weakest besides Gizmo. Skittish and hates fighting, used to getting his ass kicked. Feral behavior when cornered. Has strange shadow-based powers that manifest in a variety of ways, but his control over them is instinct-driven at best.

**Billy Numerous:** 20. Best socialized among the group, but still has several troubling mental issues. Has self-esteem problems that he handles with outbursts of extreme anger instead of "typical" depression. Often fights with his clones and treats them as separate people. People he hates. Prone to irrational violence.

**H.I.V.E. Master:** ? Unseen cult leader who governs the actions of the group. Not aligned with the Light, wishes to remain a separate organization. Preys on young metahumans to boost the ranks in his cult; although he also employs many adults. Jinx and her crew are from the youngest "generation" of cultists and they're desperate to prove themselves.

Additional notes: Jinx and Billy are the best candidates of the group for rehabilitation in the 'real' world, away from the H.I.V.E cult and 'the life' of crime.


End file.
